Grim evidence given in abuse case

Videotape of son, 3, shows extensive bruises, cuts

EAST STROUDSBURG — A videotape played Tuesday in court showed 3-year-old Isaiah Warren's bruised face and sad, swollen eyes glancing passively into the camera as a doctor took off his T-shirt and rolled up his sweatpants to examine the bruises, lacerations and contusions all over his body.

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By ANDREW SCOTT

poconorecord.com

By ANDREW SCOTT

Posted Jan. 24, 2007 at 12:01 AM

By ANDREW SCOTT
Posted Jan. 24, 2007 at 12:01 AM

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In his own words

On the evening of Jan. 5, McKinley Warren walked into the Stroud Area Regional Police building and voluntarily gave an interview to Capt. William Parrish. Portions of that tape were played at Tuesd...

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In his own words

On the evening of Jan. 5, McKinley Warren walked into the Stroud Area Regional Police building and voluntarily gave an interview to Capt. William Parrish. Portions of that tape were played at Tuesday's preliminary hearing for charges that Warren beat his son, Isaiah, 3. "We're dealing with a significant amount of evidence," said his attorney, Brett Riegel, "including Mr. Warren's own words."

EAST STROUDSBURG — A videotape played Tuesday in court showed 3-year-old Isaiah Warren's bruised face and sad, swollen eyes glancing passively into the camera as a doctor took off his T-shirt and rolled up his sweatpants to examine the bruises, lacerations and contusions all over his body.

Dr. Andrea Taroli, a pediatrician and child-abuse forensic examiner, occasionally paused the tape, pointing out the injuries on Isaiah's body.

He had a handprint-shaped bruise on the left side of his head, where the condition of his ear indicated it had been smashed against his skull by a slap. He had triangular-shaped bruises on his torso and horizontal lacerations on his legs and feet, as if someone had struck him repeatedly with a belt buckle or other sharp-edged object.

And his pelvic bone was bruised, as though someone had forcefully driven the front of his body against some hard surface.

But what made one woman in the courtroom gasp was the hideous red laceration stretching upward from the right side of his neck to below his right ear.

"That's a ligature mark consistent with strangulation with a flexible object," Taroli said. "That could have been caused by someone holding him suspended by his shirt collar or using a cloth, cord or rope."

Sitting next to his attorney and watching and listening silently, handcuffed in a blue county-jail uniform, was the man charged with giving Isaiah those bruises: his father, McKinley Warren, 41, of East Stroudsburg. A preliminary hearing was held Tuesday before Magisterial District Judge Michael Muth of East Stroudsburg.

The same man is under investigation in the 2000 death of his 2-year-old daughter, Jessica Bock, who he claims fell out of his car.

Warren was charged after authorities arrived at his 15 Taylor Street home Jan. 5, acting on an anonymous tip that Isaiah had not been seen for the past several days, according to Stroud Area Regional Police Detective Susan Lyon.

Police reportedly found Isaiah, his two older brothers and younger sister at home and were told by the children that Warren had taken their mother, Cindy Warren, 28, to bingo. Cindy Warren also faces charges of endangering Isaiah

Lyon said Isaiah was dressed only in his underpants and had bruises all over his body. He was taken to Pocono Medical Center and later examined by Taroli, who heads the Pegasus Child Advocacy Center's Carbondale and Tobyhanna offices. His siblings were placed with Monroe County Children and Youth.

Taroli testified that the 33-pound boy gained four pounds overnight between the time he was at the hospital and when she saw him. She said this, coupled with a voracious appetite and thirst, indicated he had been starved and dehydrated.

Stroud Area Regional Police Capt. William Parrish's Jan. 7 recorded interview with McKinley Warren, also played Tuesday in court, mentioned nothing about denying the boy food and water.

"I spanked him," Warren told police, speaking rapidly and sometimes stuttering, his voice at times rising and incredulous at some of the questions being asked. "I tapped his ass. I made him walk up and down the stairs when he was bad.

"That boy's a problem," Warren said. "He pisses on the other kids' toys. He antagonizes the other kids. Our house has rules. I don't tolerate that.

"Half of those bruises are from him," he told police, saying the bruise on Isaiah's head occurred when he fell down the steps. "He falls all the time."

When asked about the bump on the boy's head that led to him being examined, Warren said, "That's nothing. I kept him up until 2 or 3 in the morning just in case he had a concussion.

"You think we're bad parents, but there's so much you don't even know," he said. "You're worrying about peanuts."

He said the mark on his son's neck came from an ice pack being placed on the boy's head with straps tied around his neck.

Warren claimed not to know what caused the other bruises.

At one point, he told police he would leave his oldest son, McKinley "Mack" Jr., 10, in charge of the other children with orders to "whoop his Isaiah's ass" if he got out of line.

Warren said he didn't know what went on when he wasn't home and that his wife was hardly there.

He also told police Isaiah on at least one occasion slept nude on a towel in a hallway because the house is so small, cramped and crowded that there was nowhere else for him to sleep, at least on that occasion.

Later during the interview, a tearful Warren admitted knowing what he'd done to his son is wrong.

"That doesn't mean you can take my kids from me," he said. "It took me six years to get those kids."

In fact, the children were placed in Children and Youth custody in 2002 and returned to Warren by court order in April 2006, according to court records.

After testimony concluded Tuesday, defense attorney Brett Riegel asked the judge to reduce the three counts on each of the four charges aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment and endangering child welfare to two counts. Riegel said the bruises, which occurred over a period of time, and other evidence make it hard to determine exactly how many times Warren allegedly abused his son.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Mancuso said at least three distinct bruises were visible, justifying the three counts on each charge. The judge agreed.

"This abuse was not committed by a human being, but by a monster masquerading as a human being," Muth said, finding sufficient evidence to send all counts to Monroe County Court.

Muth also denied Riegel's motion to reduce Warren's bail from $50,000, saying the inevitability of a trial and the possibility of subsequent jail time give Warren a reason to be a flight risk if released on bail. Each count carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years, prosecutors said.

Warren will be formally arraigned in county court at a future date, after which he can decide either to go to trial, plead guilty or plead no contest. The latter two choices mean an automatic conviction.

Cindy Warren waived her right to a preliminary hearing in district court on charges of reckless endangerment and endangering child welfare for allegedly letting the abuse occur. She, too, will head to county court.